In the first general election for more than 10 years, Winston Churchill found himself and his Conservative Party flattened by a shock Labour landslide.

Despite leading the UK through much of the Second World War, the charismatic prime minister was resoundingly rejected by the voters as their choice for peacetime leader.

Instead Labour leader Clement Attlee - Churchillís deputy PM in the wartime coalition government - was given the job of leading the country into the post-war future.

His partyís socialist programme of radical social reform and the nationalisation of key industries was backed so heavily by the voters it gave Labour its first ever majority government - with a commanding 146-seat lead over the other parties - while the Liberals took just 12 seats.